Chapter 317: Six Nights, Seven Days Digest

It happened on the third day of the voyage…

Sunraku: "Hey, Emul."

Emul: "What is it, wa…?"

Sunraku: "You're the one who said you were looking forward to the boat trip, so come on, act a little happier about it."

Emul: "When there's nothing in particular to do and you've been staring at nothing but the sea for three days, of course you get bored, wa."

Sunraku: "…Well, I've mostly finished gathering materials, and now we're just waiting for the weapon to be done."

From the cabin—what you might call a semi-suite—Emul and I gazed vacantly outside while chatting like this. At any rate, the worst "attacks" on this ship were players fishing up octopuses and seaweed monsters from the deck, so barring any major incidents, it'd been a peaceful voyage.

If the departure time had been a bit earlier, this entire ship might have been sunk and resurfaced by Ruluiath, but unfortunately, that's the territory of those bastards.

Sunraku: "Still, walking around inside the ship seems like it'd just lead to trouble…"

Even if I disguise my appearance, I can't hide my player name. Just passing by would be one thing, but if I went sightseeing through the crowds, the chances of being noticed would naturally go up. That said, spending the whole voyage on land, then just fast-traveling when the time comes and "Okay, here we are!"… would be pretty damn boring.

Sunraku: "Fishing… that's the ticket."

Emul: "Fishing, wa?"

Fishing—according to my dad, it's a dialogue with the world, a challenge to the great ocean… When I asked him, "What about river fishing?" he apparently said, "It's connected to the sea, so don't sweat the details." What about lakes, huh? What about lakes?

Well, be that as it may, fishing is a noble hobby where even if you're just staring at the sky with your mouth half open, the mere presence of a fishing rod in front of you lets you convince yourself, "At least this isn't wasted time."

In SLF, the fishing action isn't a feature they put that much effort into. Not that it's half-assed, exactly—but when you can use a normal-looking fishing rod to reel in a monster the size of a kei car, that's really just game-style conceptual exaggeration, I guess… Oh, nice bite.

???: "............"

???: "............"

???: "...P-Please don't eat me."

Doesn't look too edible… It was clearly the same species as that guy, so I asked it to pass on a message and released it.

Man, I'm bored. Anything interesting going on… Wait, hold on—I totally spaced out there, but wasn't that a Pescorian just now!?

Hey, COME BAAACK!!

Sunraku: "—And, well, that's what happened."

Psyger-0: "So that's what it was… In the chat, you were… well, you seemed pretty worked up, so I wondered what had happened."

Before I knew it, it was the fifth day since setting sail for the New Land. Since neither I nor Saiga-san do any club activities, we can pour our Saturdays and Sundays into the game. Akitsu Akane was complaining that she can't log in on Saturdays because of club, but from what I've heard, it's honestly impressive how she keeps up that kind of vitality while handling such a grueling schedule.

Sunraku: "I've recently come to realize that stepping on important flags while in grind mode is dangerous…"

Well, as long as the message gets to Araba that I'm headed toward the New Land, I'll call it good.

Sunraku: "Oh, right—how's that machine I lent you?"

Psyger-0: "Yes, I've been using it without any particular problems."

Sunraku: "Glad to hear it."

Honestly, the machine I'd lent Saiga-san... I mean, Rei-shi had already served its purpose the moment she boarded the New Land Research Vessel, but if something I'd lent out broke down, I'd feel pretty bad as the one who lent it.

Sunraku: "Speaking of which, Saiga-san—since you've cleared 'Invitation from Rabituza,' have you already done the true reforging of your Vorpal weapon?"

If I remember right, Rei-shi was using a sledgehammer when she first entered Rabituza, wasn't she? I'm not really sure what that thing references, but in the case of true reforging, the weapon type can change quite a lot… I mean, my kitchen knife has a blade-drawing function built into it now.

Psyger-0: "You get Vysache-san to strengthen it, right? If that's the case, then…"

Sunraku: "Did your weapon type change?"

Psyger-0: "Yes, from a hammer to an Iron Flail."

An Iron Flail is a derivative weapon of the mace, and apparently it's a weapon type where "it's a blunt weapon, but you can use slashing-type skills." Though the damage calculation itself is treated as blunt… Incidentally, that iron lump Massive Dynamite was carrying on her back—that also falls under the Iron Flail category, apparently.

Psyger-0: "It's convenient, but it's also hard to land critical hits…"

Sunraku: "Huh…"

Between Iron Flails and Blade-to-Blade Swords, this game really has a ton of hidden elements beyond just the parameters. Do each of the weapons have derivative lines? No, but if that's the case, since Blade-to-Blade Swords are a derivative from two one-handed swords, then there should be weapon types derived from dual swords too… Wait, is that the tonfa edge? No, I heard that one was blunt-type… Hmm…

Sunraku: "Ah, right—that reminds me about weapons. Have you met Bilac yet? The one with the messy black fur? Vash is random encounters only, so she's practically Rabituza's designated smith."

Psyger-0: "Bilac… she seemed, well, rather difficult…"

Sunraku: "Difficult?"

An image of Bilac flashed through my mind… When Vash does smithing, there's usually a screw loose somewhere… When I provide materials, her eyes usually go wide… And she disguises herself as a cloak…

Sunraku: "…Diffi-cult?"

When things are normal, I guess she might be… difficult? Maybe?

Psyger-0: "Also, there are about two more things…"

Sunraku: "Hm?"

What I've internally categorized as the "Saiga Matter"—the mysterious "Divine-Demonic Sword Antinomy." It seems to be something different from weapons with unusual acquisition methods like Wished Weapons, Gratefuls, and Re-Legacy Weapons. Even from just the fragments of information, that greatsword gives off a distinct "I'm wielding it for now, but this thing is fundamentally bad news" vibe, and—as expected, I suppose—Vysache apparently had more to say about it.

Sunraku: "What did Vash say?"

Psyger-0: "—No one knows the origin of that sword. The truth can only be found with your own hands… he said."

I mean, the fact that he's saying that line basically means he knows, doesn't it… though I guess calling him out on that would be off-limits. But at least one thing is now clear.

Sunraku: "The flags related to that sword aren't tied to NPCs, but to some location or item."

Psyger-0: "Is that… so?"

Sunraku: "Even if there's no 'someone' who knows about it, that means there's a 'somewhere' or 'something' that can tell you, right?"

Psyger-0: "I see…"

At this level, if you're doing a hidden-element completion run with a strategy-info ban, this is the basics of the basics. There are worse things out there than "Collect ten hidden items and challenge the secret boss! (Note: there were actually eleven, due to a misprint in the official guide.)" It was a genuinely tragic sight, seeing the official sources apologize and spoil something they'd hidden so thoroughly throughout the main story.

Well, when it was discovered that the secret boss you could fight after collecting those eleven hidden items—which was supposed to require "surviving a fierce assault while using the Pray command eleven times to advance the event"—could actually be one-shot with a single Taunt command due to a bug, even I let out a dry laugh. Talk about having zero taunt resistance…

Sunraku: "So, Rei-shi securing fast travel is a stroke of luck, then… It's not explicitly stated that 'it' is on the New Land side, and the old continent hasn't been fully explored either, like those underground caverns… Hm?"

Come to think of it, Saiga-san, didn't you say you had about two things to tell me?

Sunraku: "What's the other thing on your mind?"

Psyger-0: "Something on my mind, or rather… It's a bit hard to ask while logged in…"

Hard to ask while logged in? When I looked at Saiga-san wondering what this was about, she hesitated for just a moment, then seemed to make up her mind and spoke.

Psyger-0: "…The Unique Scenario 'Diale’s Secret Training'—are you familiar with it?"

For now, interrogating the key witness rabbit.

Emul: "Diale-onee-chan is my idol, wa! She's the greatest mage in all of Rabituza, my magic teacher, wa!"

Sunraku: "Hmm, hmm."

Emul: "But, but, lately she seems busy and I don't get to see her much, wa…"

Sunraku: "I see… I've got the gist of it."

In short, if a newcomer little sister overtakes her in ability just like that, the veteran older sister loses face.

This is about half my fault, isn't it?

And then, the seventh day arrives…!

Sunraku, the war criminal who magnificently snapped the contact flag with the Pescorians. Sunraku, the MVP who secured an appointment with the Pescorian hero and raised the encounter flag from a different direction.

In other words, fifty-fifty, not guilty.

Diale: "…Look, it's not that I'm embarrassed about my little sister finding out the fact that my power already falls short of hers. I'm not so shameless as to resent my sister's growth. But when I see how much she's grown, it hits home that perhaps my own efforts have been lacking. And so, I thought that by accompanying you—a guest of my father and one whose Vorpal Soul has been acknowledged—I might be able to further improve myself. No, I mean, it's not like I'm embarrassed about Emul seeing me train, or anything like that. Huh? 'Then why not go with him or Akitsu Akane-dono?' you ask? Well, you see… Ceecrue-nii-sama is, well, rather loose-lipped, so the secret might get out… And besides, how appropriate is it, really, for a gentleman who's half-naked all the time—even if he's a different species? I mean, fundamentally… No, that's wrong! It's not that I'm afraid of traveling with the bird person! It's just that I want to look cool in front of Emul, or rather… Ah!? N-No, that's not what I… I mean, it's a figure of speech, um, that is… ngh, kill me!"

A new frontier: the cryptic-message-style female knight rabbit (nearly pure mage).